preface
Located in the northwest of the motherland, Xinjiang has always been the gateway to the west of China's and West's transportation and the opening of Chinese civilization to the west, with rich historical and cultural heritage. Several generations of Xinjiang archaeologists have traveled far and wide, involved in the desert and the vast rivers, started cultural relics underground, and feasted on the chinese chapter of the world, which not only constructed the regional historical and cultural development context, empirically proved the glorious history of multi-ethnic cultural exchanges, exchanges and blends, but also provided a rich material carrier for carrying forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture, casting a solid sense of the Chinese national community, and deeply carrying out the "cultural enrichment of Xinjiang" project.
Since 1995, 10 archaeological discoveries in Xinjiang have been selected as the "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China" in previous years. These projects cover caves, settlements, city sites, grottoes, tombs and other scenes, from the dawn of ancient civilization to the relics of the Han, Tang, Song and Yuan dynasties, and are representatives and epitomes of archaeological discoveries in Xinjiang over the years.
Today
Let's walk in together
"Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China" Xinjiang Chapter
【Kucha Friendship Road Brick Chamber Tomb during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of the Jin Dynasty】
Archaeological results
Kucha Friendship Road Brick Chamber Tomb Group is the only brick chamber tomb group in Xinjiang, buried deep in the gravel layer of 7-10 meters underground, a total of 12 brick chamber tombs, distributed in a concentrated manner, dating from the Jin Sixteen Kingdoms period. It can be divided into three types: vertical cave single chamber brick tomb, slope tomb single brick room and slope tomb road front and back double room. The burial chamber was used many times, and the interior was buried with multiple tomb owners, of which the M14 buried more than 20 people. In the tomb, there is the custom of sprinkling five baht coins, and there are also the phenomenon of mouthing and holding coins. There are many funerary items. These tombs are of a higher rank, perhaps by the guizi nobles who were deeply influenced by the traditional Han and Jin culture, or by the Han officials, tunshu military officials, or Hexi Hao immigrants who lived in the Guizi region.
Burial chamber cleaning
The M3 tomb door is illuminated on the wall
Location of the brick chamber tomb on Kucha Friendship Road (background)
Expert evaluation
The Kucha Friendship Road Brick Chamber Tomb is the first time in Xinjiang to find a tomb of the Sixteen Kingdoms of Jin with close relations with the mainland on the northern edge of the Tarim Desert, which is of great academic value for discussing the history of the Central Plains Dynasty operating the Western Regions during the Sixteen Kingdoms period of the Jin Dynasty, and accurately elucidating the political, economic, cultural relations and silk road history between the Central Plains Dynasty and the Oasis City-states in the Western Regions during the Han and Jin Dynasties.
Tomb door
Brick chamber tomb external structure
Mysterious brick chamber tomb
The tomb door, the passageway, the burial chamber, and the ear chamber are all built with green and red brick masonry, and there is a wall on the tomb door. The tomb system is very similar to that of the mainland, especially the Wei and Jin mural tombs in Jiuquan and Jiayuguan, the Dunhuang Buddha Temple Bay Cemetery and the Qijiawan Cemetery, and the Datong Shangsunjiazhai Cemetery.
Brick carved god beast - heavenly deer
Brick carved god beast - Xuanwu
Unearthed clay pots
The tomb shape system is typical of the Han style
The Kucha Friendship Road cemetery is deeply excavated and shallow, the tomb shape system is slightly different, the vertical pit tomb shape system is simple, and there are fewer burial utensils. The shape of the brick chamber tomb is a typical Han style, and the construction method is basically the same as that of the same type of brick chamber tomb found in Hexi.
Panorama of the brick chamber tomb M1 of Kucha Friendship Road
Illuminate the wall
Brick chamber tomb roof
The funerary items are mainly pottery
The burial items are mainly pottery, mainly single-eared jars, amphora jars, double-series jars, three-series jars and other practical utensils, which have the cultural characteristics of pottery in the Han and Jin dynasties around the Tarim Basin. A total of more than 700 coins have been excavated from the tomb, mainly half two, five baht, Guizi small coins, etc., this batch of coins are mainly circulated in the late Eastern Han Dynasty to the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and the tomb age is determined to be the Western Jin Dynasty to the Sixteen Kingdoms period.
Top left: six-series pot, top right: clay pot, bottom: clay pot
Top left: unearthed copper belt hook, top right: copper belt buckle, bottom left: copper mirror, bottom right: five-bead coin
Five-baht coins for scissor wheels
Turtles those things
Kuqa ancient called Guizi, a famous oasis city-state on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin during the Two Han Dynasties. After Zhang Qian passed through the Western Regions, the political and economic relations between Guizi and the Han Dynasty have always been quite close. During the reign of Emperor Xuan of Han, King Daibin of Guizi asked to marry Princess Shi of Jieyou and became the granddaughter-in-law of the Han Dynasty, deeply influenced by Han culture, as early as the Western Han Dynasty, Guizi already had a certain number of migrants from the Central Plains. In the eastern Han Dynasty (87), Ban Chao defeated Shache and Guizi, and in the third year of Yongyuan (91), the Western Regions were re-established, and since then, Guizi has become the center of the Han Dynasty's management of the Western Regions.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there should be many Han and Hexi Qiang people living in Guizi. From the Wei and Jin dynasties to the pre-Liang period, the Central Plains Dynasty set up a long history of the Western Regions, Guizi still maintained close contact with the Central Plains Dynasty, and when Former Qin Lü Guangfa Guizi was in the former Qin Dynasty, he saw that the Guizi Kingdom had three cities, and the outer city and Chang'an City. The magnificent room house is decorated with langjiu gold jade", which shows that the Han culture has had a deep influence on the Guizi region, and the cultural outlook reflected in the tomb of Kucha Friendship Road is inseparable from the culture of the Han and Jin dynasties in the Central Plains and Hexi regions, which to a large extent confirms the documentary records and deepens our understanding of the Guizi civilization.
Wrapped in gold and iron hairpins
Single-eared clay pot
Pendant
Glazed clay pots
Left: Urn coffin, Right: jade bracelet
(Contributed by Xinjiang Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology)
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Photo: Liu Yusheng
Edit: Bobozai
Review: Ge Jian
Supervisor: Si Yuanxun
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